This is the fifth Dark Days novel, and it continues the story of Mira. Mira can control fire, a rare thing among vampires, which makes her incredibly dangerous to everyone. And when she is teamed up with vampire slayer Danaus, her power grows exponentially. This is one reason everybody wants her--either to kill her to keep her from interfering with plans, or to use her as a means to bring about the end days. Either way, Mira finds herself surrounded by people she can barely trust and thrust into situations that constantly require her to make decisions that put those she loves into danger. Death, it seems, is around every corner, and this time the corners are in Hungary. Mira has few places to turn and fewer people she can depend on.

This book returns the point of view (POV) to Mira, after switching, for no apparent reason, to Danaus for the last book. Once again, Mira is faced with the Naturi who want to use her to open a portal to the place they were exiled to so they can return and cleanse the Earth of everyone. She also has to deal with the Elders, among who she is now one, as they use their centuries of living to manipulate and plot against each other. There is, it seems, no low they won't sink to in order to get a little revenge. And then there is Mira's love interest, the man who is dedicated to seeing her killed but who finds himself working with her more than against her. It's an odd relationship to say the least.

I have to say I enjoyed the first three books and that the last book, due to the POV switch, kind of threw me. While this book returns to the formula of the first three there is also a lot jammed in here and it seems to cover little new ground, although it does inch along some character development. That said, if you really enjoyed the first three books then you will also enjoy this one.

I think series are tough to maintain because the writer either had a grand tale to tell or not and can get lost in the telling or just lost in the selling. Seems to me there are plenty of stories out there relating to Mira and Jocelyn Drake has proven that she can write so she should feel free to tie some of these story lines up and move forward. I'm hoping the next book does some of that.

We're interested in your feedback. Just fill out the form below and we'll add your comments as soon as we can look them over. Due to the number of SPAM containing links, any comments containing links will be filtered out by our system. Please do not include links in your message.